Infant feeding in developing countries: combating the multinationals imperative.

Abstract

Methods used by baby food companies in seducing mothers away from breast feeding are well known: aggressive advertising campaigns offering of free samples of formulas and of powdered milk and enlisting the support of medical and paramedical personnel. These companies also managed to gain the support of the Western medical profession for bottle feeding over breast feeding; it is likewise possible that academics in the social sciences will be co-opted to increase the sale of artificial baby foods in developing countries. These academics will attempt to create more markets for multinationals of the baby food industry by declaring that women in developing countries want their products. The biochemical and immunological advantages of breast milk over cows milk and other formulas have been well documented; the economic factors in terms of the cost-benefit advantages of human milk especially in developing countries are obvious at a family and at a national level since much artificial milk has to be imported resulting in a loss of much needed capital in foreign exchange payments. There is ample documentation of the association of bottle feeding with increase in infant mortality due to lack of the necessary facilities and hygienic conditions; breast feeding can also contribute to postponing ovulation and therefore conception. In most Western societies a supportive figure for offering moral and psychological understanding to nursing mothers such as the doula in more traditional cultures is lacking and anxiety fear and stress are often associated with breast feeding. Also problems with breast feeding occur mainly in those societies where the breast has become a kind of sexual fetish and is not perceived as a functional object for the nurture of infants. Medical and paramedical personnel can play an important role in promoting breast feeding and infant nutrition education should be imparted to all expecting mothers.